By Maayan Lubell, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas
JERUSALEM/CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian militant movement Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers from hostage on Saturday in exchange for some 200 Palestinian prisoners, in line with a ceasefire deal to end the war in 15 months in Gaza.
The four men were led to a podium in Gaza City, amid a large crowd of Palestinians and surrounded by dozens of Hamas gunmen. They waved and smiled before being taken away, boarded ICRC vehicles and transported to Israeli forces.
The soldiers – Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag – were all stationed at an observation post on the outskirts of Gaza and kidnapped by Hamas fighters who invaded their base during Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Their parents clapped and shouted with joy when they saw them on screen, watching the transfer of power live from a nearby military base across the border. In Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis gathered in Hostages Square, crying, hugging and applauding as the event was broadcast on a giant screen.
They were reunited with their families shortly after, according to the army, and will be transported to a hospital in central Israel, the Israeli Health Ministry said.
But joy in Israel was overshadowed by disappointment after a civilian hostage who was supposed to be freed on Saturday was not. Arbel Yehud, 29, was kidnapped with her boyfriend from their home on Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023.
An Israeli army spokesman said it was a breach of the truce, while Hamas said it was a technical problem. A Hamas official said the group had informed mediators that she was alive and would be released next Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians in Gaza would not be allowed to return to the northern part of the territory until the problem was resolved.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from northern Gaza during the war and many expected to return on Sunday.
A Palestinian official told Reuters that mediators were working to resolve the problem.
PRISONERS
Hamas said 200 prisoners would be released on Saturday as part of the exchange. They include convicted activists serving life sentences for their involvement in attacks that killed dozens of people. Around 70 people are expected to be expelled, Hamas said.
Buses carrying the prisoners were seen leaving the Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank shortly after the release of the Israeli hostages.
The exchange planned for Saturday will be the second since the start of the ceasefire on January 19 and the surrender by Hamas of three Israeli civilians in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The ceasefire agreement, crafted after months of on-and-off negotiations brokered by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States, ended fighting for the first time since a truce that did not lasted only one week in November 2023.
During the first six-week phase of the deal, Hamas agreed to release 33 hostages, including children, women, elderly men and the sick and wounded, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. , while Israeli troops withdraw from some of their positions in the Gaza Strip.
In a later phase, the two sides would negotiate the exchange of remaining hostages, including military-aged men, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, which is largely in ruins after 15 months of fighting and bombardment.
After Saturday’s release, 90 hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities, who declared about a third of them dead in absentia.
Families of hostages who are not included in the first phase fear that the ceasefire will be broken before reaching the next stages and that their loved ones will be left behind.
Israel launched its Gaza campaign after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, when militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli counts. Since then, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health authorities in the region.
Israel has lost more than 400 soldiers in the fighting in Gaza. Hamas has not revealed how many fighters it has lost. Israel estimates that more than a third of the deaths in Gaza are militants.
